A Quiet Moment As we head into the dead of winter my thoughts drift to warmer days with family and friends trying to out smart trout on crystal clear waters with tiny dry flies. We are pleased to present this picture by Nick Didlicm available for you to download to use as a desktop picture for your computer by right clicking on the photo and saving to your desktop. From all of us at A River Never Sleeps we hope you enjoy our...

Story and Photos by Bob Salisbury The Tadpole Fly: Some seven years ago we excavated a couple of linked ponds along the foot of the narrow valley in an area of wet land where I live in County Tyrone, Ireland. First and foremost I was interested in trying to add to the diversity of the wild life in the area and seeing if it were possible to attract the mallard and teal, which regularly passed overhead, to breed there. That aim worked better than we had hoped and duck and many other forms of wildlife soon populated the new ponds as the habitat matured and at this moment there are several mallard sitting on eggs and water rails, grebes and the many other interesting species have been seen. Once the water had settled down following the initial excavation, we spotted minnows darting about in the small overflow stream which joined the two lakes and decided that the peaty water could perhaps sustain a population of fish, so trout were introduced as an experiment. A few rainbows of about half a pound weight were purchased, the 4X4 reversed up to the water’s edge and the fish tipped in. There was little science involved and we merely wanted to see if the water was suitable, if there was enough natural food for the fish to survive and if the predators would leave them alone long enough for them to acclimatize and thrive. In fact, these early fish did extremely well and were followed by further stockings which grew rapidly on the supply of small fish, shrimps and insects and after their first season, provided fine sport once they became more wary and not too easy to catch. Frogs also thrived in the new ponds and their numbers multiplied...

Story by Mark Hume with Photography by Nick Didlick The Fording River is being killed by coal. Death by Coal: According to reports compiled by Environment Canada during a two-year investigation an estimated 180,000 cutthroat trout die in the river each year because of selenium poisoning, which causes cranial deformities. Some of the trout hatch with such severe conditions – bent spines, missing jaws – that they can’t feed and soon die of starvation. In some adult trout selenium has concentrated in their eggs, which become so fragile they burst on contact with water. The metal-like element occurs naturally, but the millions of tons of waste rock produced by coal mining activities in the Elk Valley, in southeast British Columbia, has pushed selenium levels up to 300 times higher than B.C.’s guidelines for the protection of aquatic life. Environment Canada has been gathering data in the valley since at least 2012 according to expert witness statements prepared for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, an agency that deals with regulatory and environmental crimes. The reports point to Teck Coal Ltd., which has five mines in the area, as the source of the selenium pollution. To its credit, Teck has acknowledged the problem and has promised to spend $600 million over the next five years in an attempt to improve water quality. But Teck also wants to keep expanding its mining operations and so far the water treatment plants and water diversion projects the company is using in attempt to control selenium are unproven. Peter Krahn, a senior enforcement engineer with Environment Canada, states in an expert witness report, dated Sept. 25, 2014, that in addition to the selenium problem, Teck’s operations are also destroying spawning beds. He states that in some places calcium, magnesium...

When Paul Samycia first began fishing in British Columbia’s famous Elk Valley, he was drawn to the magical waters of the Fording River, where big westslope cutthroat rose through crystal waters to engulf dry flies. The founder of the Elkriver Guiding Company in Fernie can still find great fishing for his clients in the Rocky Mountain streams that lace the area – but not in the upper Fording, which is closed to fishing. Selenium, leaching out of massive coal slag piles, is poisoning the upper Fording, reaching such high levels that the fish could soon be totally wiped out, a story which is told elsewhere on this site. And concerns are growing that Teck Coal Ltd. won’t do enough to stop the selenium pollution from spreading downstream into the Elk River. We interview Paul recently after obtaining Environment Canada reports that detailed the extent of the pollution problem in the Fording, where an estimated 180,000 trout die annually because of selenium poisoning. The following question and answer exchange is edited. Q: How’s the Fording River changed in your time? A: They have closed the upper Fording to angling. It was the very first piece of water I ever fished in this valley in 1996. It was a phenomenal fishery at that time. They are doing a westslope cutthroat study up there now. I’ve gone through lots of old reports about when they were doing water diversion projects to accommodate mining operations and they talk about having 10,000 fish recovered from the old river channel . . . the population now doesn’t reflect those numbers. Q: How’s the Elk? A: We had a bad flood last year. A year after a flood event a freestone river generally does well and the Elk fished really well this...

Story and photography by Bob Salisbury I love to fish the small streams and rivers of County Tyrone, in Northern Ireland. These tiny waterways are largely neglected by many local anglers who prefer to try for a salmon on the larger rivers. It is true that these undisturbed streams are often difficult to fish because of overarching alders and willow, hidden barbwire and high waterside vegetation. Getting a fly to stay clear of the abundant broad leafed pond weed can also be tricky but it is worth trying to overcome these various obstacles because these streams do contain surprising populations of excellent wild brown trout. In the places where a car can be parked and the river is accessible and a straightforward cast can be made the trodden grass shows evidence that fishermen do visit the river – but walk a few hundred yards down or up stream and the vegetation is unmarked and it is clear that no one has recently frequented the banks. These popular ‘easy’ spots tend not to be the haunt of the good trout and the best fish usually inhabit the most difficult places where putting a fly over them requires effort and perseverance. Knowing that you are the first angler that season to explore a favourite section of the river where good trout will be lying is pure joy and a real privilege, but the thing which really sets the heart beating is the realisation that none of the trout which lurk in these awkward lies will seldom, if ever, have seen an artificial fly. On a warm summer evening when there is a good hatch of fly, this undisturbed idyll for the dry fly fisherman can be a little deceptive. Wild brown trout have a loathing and...

Photography by Rafal Gerszak with a story by Mark Hume Every spring the trucks head out from five hatcheries located around British Columbia to recharge some of the 200,000 lakes and 750,000 kms of streams with new stocks of trout. The Fraser Valley Trout Hatchery, just outside Vancouver, is one of the busiest, putting over 860,000 rainbows, steelhead and cutthroat into more than 150 different water bodies each year. These aren’t bedraggled hatchery fish with worn tails, but fish derived directly from wild stock. Some of the fish will be caught soon after they have been released, but others will survive for years, reproducing naturally and with luck, growing to trophy size. Some are triploids, fish which have effectively been sterilized so that all their energy is directed into growth. The released fish range from fry, that are smaller than a finger, to adult “catchables” that are big enough to be taken home and eaten. Steve Arnold, manager of the Fraser Valley hatchery, says B.C.’s hatchery operators take a lot of pride in producing healthy, beautiful fish that are genetically indistinguishable from wild trout. “All of our fish eggs come from wild stock,” he said, explaining how the hatchery gathers eggs each spring by live-trapping adult trout at a few special “brood lakes.” Basically wild trout are intercepted on their way to the spawning grounds and their eggs are redirected to hatcheries, where they are fertilized and hatched. The young fish are mostly released at 9 to 12 months of age. “So they are essentially wild fish. We’ve got total genetic diversity,” said Mr. Arnold. The stocking program, run by the non-profit Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC, produces over eight million trout, steelhead, char and kokanee salmon each year, releasing them into about 800 bodies...

Story by Mark Hume with Photography courtesy Uncage the Soul D-Day Trout: When Frank Moore landed on the beaches of Normandy on the north coast of France on June 6, 1944, he was like a lot of young soldiers under the command of General Eisenhower. He wanted to fight, to win – and to stay alive. But he also had something else on his mind as he pushed inland – those beautiful big trout that he saw when he looked down into the rivers he crossed as a 21-year-old soldier. The image of those fish stayed with Mr. Moore for 69 years and when he mentioned to John Waller his dream of one day returning to France to revisit Utah Beach, and look for the trout he had to pass up because a war was raging, a documentary project was born. “Tough as nails, gentle as a poet, and determined as a badger,” is how Mr. Waller, of Uncage the Soul Video Production, describes Mr. Moore, now 90, who built and for a long-time ran the world famous Steamboat Inn, on the North Umpqua River. Mr. Waller is in the process of shooting a documentary, Frank Moore: Mending the Line, which will tell the story of a remarkable man and his long love affair with fly fishing. A lot of the video has been shot already in Oregon – but at this writing there was a big piece missing: Mr. Moore’s return to France to drop a fly on those big fish, if he can find them again. Mr. Waller said a small doc team, which is volunteering its time, plans to take Mr. Moore and his wife, Jeanne, back to the rivers of Normandy, “this time armed not with a gun, but with a...

Story by Peter McMullan with photography by Craig Somerville Fishing for New Zealand Trout: Bridesdale Farm, near Queenstown, sits at the end of a long and winding driveway on high ground overlooking the Kawarau River, which empties out of Lake Wakitipu, the third largest in New Zealand. A decade after Daphne and I originally visited, we returned to spend a month in Fran and King Allen’s self-catering cottage. We were expecting summer weather, but on the first night snow fell on the Remarkables, a towering range of mountains that stood close by, while heavy rain, often accompanied by blasts of thunder, filled the local rivers and streams. The fishing would be challenging, but with persistence and the help of two outstanding companions, some big trout would be found and much beautiful water fished. I have been keeping fishing diaries of one sort and another since 1951. What follows is a partial account of our trip to South Island. Jan. 1: Long distance travel made easy. Direct 14-hour flight from Vancouver to Auckland followed by a two-hour internal leg to Queenstown. Jan. 2: Surprise . . . overnight snow on the mountains that rise steeply from the river valley behind our cottage. Not at all what we expected to start a high summer new year so far from our Vancouver Island home. Jan. 3: I had the use of the Allens’ 8’ dingy for the month so tried Lake Hayes, 10 minutes away. Too much wind and, as I later discovered, the lake’s usual clarity was being impacted by a summer algae bloom. So no fish seen or touched on a variety of flies fished on a sink tip. Jan. 4: Drove to Wanaka (pop.5000) over the Crown Range on the highest paved road in the...

Fly Fishing is always an adventure and while we are all searching for new waters and fish runs sometimes the pleasure in the the fly fishing experience comes from the entire trip experience as seen here in “Where the Wild Fish Live”. Filmed on location in the Pitt River by Nick Didlick (http://www.nickdidlick.com) a short trip north east of Vancouver, British Columbia with expert Spey caster Aaron Goodis (http://www.aarongoodisphotography.com) we hope you enjoy the video. Where the Wild Fish Live (Large version 114 MB) Where the Wild Fish Live (Small version 37 MB) Please note: The movies are presented in Quicktime Format and the download speed will depend on the speed of your internet connection. If you have problem with the movie it can be seen here...

Story and photography by First Lieutenant Edwin L. Kennedy, US Army [This article was written by Brigadier General Kennedy, then a First Lieutenant, while assigned to Turkey in 1952-1955. It was discovered in a file folder by his son, also a retired Army officer, who edited the article and added the photographs from scanned 35 mm slides. Brigadier Gen. Kennedy, a WWII, Korean War and Vietnam war veteran, retired from active duty in 1979 and currently resides in Florida. We present his story here because it provides a glimpse not only to fishing in another country, but also to fishing in another time. – The Editors.] Standing knee-deep in the swift, clear water, I paused momentarily before making my first cast. In the instant before the lure sailed out over the stream, thought to myself, “Of all the things I’ve seen and done in Turkey, this trip surely tops the list.” The fact that I was fishing was, in itself, not uncustomary, but trout fishing—and in Turkey—that was something I had never imagined could be done. Everything had happened so quickly that until then I hadn’t stopped to realize that the entire trip had been unusual, even the way in which it had come about. It started one hot day early in June while I was watching the approach of a plane load of VIPs and wishing that it would hurry and land. I wanted to get out of the sun and back to the coolness of my office in town, which in this case was Ankara, Turkey, where I was assigned to the Joint American Military Mission for Aid to Turkey, “Who’s going fishing with me this weekend?” The voice came from behind me, and though it was none of my business, I couldn’t help wondering who planned to go fishing with whom, and where they planned to fish. The mention of...

Photography by Nick Didlick The distinctive weather vane in the centre of the village of Stockbridge in Hampshire, England points the way to England’s best trout fly fishing. The world famous River Test runs through the village and is regarded as the birthplace of modern fly fishing. Photography by Nick Didlick visit his website here. This picture is available for you to download to use as a desktop picture for your computer by right clicking on the photo and saving to your...

Photography by Nick Didlick A very large brown trout sits in the River Test feeding in the centre of the village of Stockbridge in Hampshire, England. The world renown River Test England’s best trout fly-fishing and is regarded as the birthplace of modern fly-fishing. Photography by Nick Didlick visit his website here. This picture is available for you to download to use as a desktop picture for your computer by right clicking on the photo and saving to your...